The anti maskers are marching in downtown Vancouver, blocking my path. All twenty of them.
You know what really bugs me about their protest? The fanatical obsession with personal rights over societal responsibility. It’s all about my right not to wear a mask and no consideration given to protecting the health of fellow citizens. They prioritize their negative rights (freedom from something) over others positive rights (a freedom to something).
Admittedly, positive rights imply positive duties to take action – whereas negative rights imply refraining from action – which makes positive rights harder to justify. And negative and positive rights can conflict because carrying out the duties granted by positive rights (wearing a mask to protect everyone) can infringe on negative rights (the right not to be mandated to wear a mask). So it’s always a balancing act. To consider one at the exclusion of the other is incredibly short sighted.
It’s also a bit of a false dichotomy between them. Isn’t the positive right of socialized medical care also a negative right to be free from disease, untimely death and bankruptcy?
Look, this is not a complex philosophical debate. I’m no expert. But I do get really frustrated by the myopic view of anti maskers. If you need to protest some violation of your rights, by all means do it.
But I’d like to respectfully suggest that an effective protest would include: 1) a quantifiable violation, 2) a proposed remedy and/or alternate plan to address the situation and 3) a basic understanding of positive and negative rights and how your actions affect others.
Is that really too much to ask?
Shit, I came up with all of this before my morning coffee.
Over and out.